johnson central leads pack at state wrestling meet
LEXINGTON | One year ago, junior Adam Williams was on the Johnson County junior varsity wrestling team.
On Saturday, Williams was the state’s second-best wrestler in the 106-pound weight class.
Williams’ rise embodied Johnson County’s team performance at the two-day KHSAA State Championship which concluded Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena.
The young and somewhat unheralded Golden Eagles proved to again be a force in state wrestling placing third in the final standings, despite not having an individual state champion for only the second time in the last six years.
Union ran away with the team title with a historic point total of 299. Christian County finished second with 200.5 points, followed by the Golden Eagles at 131.5, Ryle at 128.5 and Walton-Verona at 118.
Johnson Central notched its best-ever finish a year ago by placing second overall, but coach Jim Matney’s 2019 squad graduated four of its top performers.
“It went very well for us. We’re very young. The last couple of years we’ve had some strong teams,” he said. “But, we’re mainly freshmen and sophomores, and I knew they would have a tough time with the big crowd and the music and all.”
Nine of the Golden Eagles’ 14 qualifiers advanced to Saturday’s competition, five of which finished on the podium led by Williams.
“(He’s) a tough kid who’d come from nowhere really. He couldn’t make the varsity lineup last year, so he went from the JV to a state runner-up in one year. That’s pretty impressive,” Matney said of Williams. “I think his toughness and his strength carried him and I think his inexperience got him beat in the finals.”
Williams won all three of his matches on Friday and followed by pinning Caldwell County’s Colin Teutsch in the semifinals in just 45 seconds.
“I was just really aggressive. I shot right off the bat and as soon as I got an opportunity to put him on his back, I finished it,” he said. “I just did a low single then I finished with a bar.”
Williams’ run ended in the finals against the state’s top-ranked 106-pounder Spencer Moore of Walton-Verona. Moore built a quick 7-1 lead before pinning Williams at the 1:55 mark.
“Initially, I was just thinking I’m going to go out there as hard as I can and just wrestle and just hope for the best turnout. Once I got out there and started warming up … I just kept thinking about it and got more specific in my thoughts about what I was going to do during the match and it just kind of overwhelmed me,” Williams said. “He did a really good job of controlling my head and keeping my head down. It made it really hard for me to set anything up or get out (while I was) on the bottom.”
Despite the quick ending to his tournament, Williams was happy with what he accomplished.
“I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I definitely wish I could go back and try again at my finals match, but I’m pretty pleased with overall how I did,” he said.
Williams’ teammates senior Dalton Lawson at 120 pounds (third), sophomore Jacob Cain at 132 pounds (fourth), sophomore Reece Goss at 145 pounds (seventh) and sophomore Levid Rodriguez at 195 pounds (third) also earned a spot on the podium. Senior Jayden Webb (126 pounds), junior Nick Stapleton (170 pounds) and freshman Chase Price (182 pounds) each tied for ninth.
Behind the performance of a trio of top-10 finishers, Ashland claimed 23rd place with 36 points, its best result since capturing 18th in 2016, while Boyd County and first-year program West Carter each tied for 75th with three points.
Leading the way for the eight-member Tomcat contingent was surprise fifth-place finisher Zane Christian. The sophomore was the lone team member to go undefeated on day one, despite being the last qualifier out of the regional tournament.
Christian won all three of his Friday matches by decision, including a 4-1 victory over Oldham County’s Blake Young in the quarterfinals. Although he dropped his semifinal contest against Union’s Darius Moore by a Fall at the 3:04 mark, he battled back with a pair of wins in the consolation bracket with his final victory coming via a 4-3 decision over Simon Kenton’s Dakota Brooksbank in the fifth-place match.
“Zane Christian making it to the semis and then making it back to fifth place was a pretty good surprise. He’s come a long way and has really developed," Ashland coach Butch Scarberry said. “In his placement match, he came in with a game plan, executed well and did what was supposed to do.”
Senior Jarett Sanders (132 pounds), junior Kolby Coburn (170 pounds) and senior John Stone (285 pounds) all advanced to Saturday with Sanders and Stone each tying for ninth.
“Overall everybody competed well and did what he was supposed to do. We’ll improve, get better and hopefully do it again next year,” Scarberry said. “Kolby had really tough draw, but made it to the second day where he wrestled the eventual champion in the second round. John unfortunately became ill on Friday night and had to go home and wasn’t able to compete on Saturday. Jarrett gave his all and came up a little short but had a great career wrestling.”
It was the final matches for Sanders and Stone.
“Jarett was a four-time state qualifier, a two-time regional champ and two-time regional runner-up,” Scarberry said. “Both had over 100 career wins, so it’s hard to replace that kind of leadership. John was a state placer last year.”
In its first year of competition, West Carter sent sophomore Sam Rayburn (182 pounds) and senior Dominic Hinton (126 pounds) to the tournament. Hinton posted the team’s first ever state win by defeating St. Xavier’s Leone Couzin in his opening match of the consolation rounds.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my guys and how they competed. A few things go differently and I think they have a real opportunity to place,” said Comets’ head coach Ethan Miller. “As a first-year program, I knew what I was signing up for and I wanted to do great things right out of the gate. Any average coach can step into a good program and find success, I wanted to start something from nothing and do the same. I feel like I reached that goal.”
Eighth-grader John Jackson (120 pounds), sophomore Dean Martin (145 pounds) and sophomore Skyeler Tallent (285 pounds) represented Boyd County. Tallent defeated Iroquois’ Jayden Doak in the consolation bracket to score points for the Lions.
On Saturday, Williams was the state’s second-best wrestler in the 106-pound weight class.
Williams’ rise embodied Johnson County’s team performance at the two-day KHSAA State Championship which concluded Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park’s Alltech Arena.
The young and somewhat unheralded Golden Eagles proved to again be a force in state wrestling placing third in the final standings, despite not having an individual state champion for only the second time in the last six years.
Union ran away with the team title with a historic point total of 299. Christian County finished second with 200.5 points, followed by the Golden Eagles at 131.5, Ryle at 128.5 and Walton-Verona at 118.
Johnson Central notched its best-ever finish a year ago by placing second overall, but coach Jim Matney’s 2019 squad graduated four of its top performers.
“It went very well for us. We’re very young. The last couple of years we’ve had some strong teams,” he said. “But, we’re mainly freshmen and sophomores, and I knew they would have a tough time with the big crowd and the music and all.”
Nine of the Golden Eagles’ 14 qualifiers advanced to Saturday’s competition, five of which finished on the podium led by Williams.
“(He’s) a tough kid who’d come from nowhere really. He couldn’t make the varsity lineup last year, so he went from the JV to a state runner-up in one year. That’s pretty impressive,” Matney said of Williams. “I think his toughness and his strength carried him and I think his inexperience got him beat in the finals.”
Williams won all three of his matches on Friday and followed by pinning Caldwell County’s Colin Teutsch in the semifinals in just 45 seconds.
“I was just really aggressive. I shot right off the bat and as soon as I got an opportunity to put him on his back, I finished it,” he said. “I just did a low single then I finished with a bar.”
Williams’ run ended in the finals against the state’s top-ranked 106-pounder Spencer Moore of Walton-Verona. Moore built a quick 7-1 lead before pinning Williams at the 1:55 mark.
“Initially, I was just thinking I’m going to go out there as hard as I can and just wrestle and just hope for the best turnout. Once I got out there and started warming up … I just kept thinking about it and got more specific in my thoughts about what I was going to do during the match and it just kind of overwhelmed me,” Williams said. “He did a really good job of controlling my head and keeping my head down. It made it really hard for me to set anything up or get out (while I was) on the bottom.”
Despite the quick ending to his tournament, Williams was happy with what he accomplished.
“I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I definitely wish I could go back and try again at my finals match, but I’m pretty pleased with overall how I did,” he said.
Williams’ teammates senior Dalton Lawson at 120 pounds (third), sophomore Jacob Cain at 132 pounds (fourth), sophomore Reece Goss at 145 pounds (seventh) and sophomore Levid Rodriguez at 195 pounds (third) also earned a spot on the podium. Senior Jayden Webb (126 pounds), junior Nick Stapleton (170 pounds) and freshman Chase Price (182 pounds) each tied for ninth.
Behind the performance of a trio of top-10 finishers, Ashland claimed 23rd place with 36 points, its best result since capturing 18th in 2016, while Boyd County and first-year program West Carter each tied for 75th with three points.
Leading the way for the eight-member Tomcat contingent was surprise fifth-place finisher Zane Christian. The sophomore was the lone team member to go undefeated on day one, despite being the last qualifier out of the regional tournament.
Christian won all three of his Friday matches by decision, including a 4-1 victory over Oldham County’s Blake Young in the quarterfinals. Although he dropped his semifinal contest against Union’s Darius Moore by a Fall at the 3:04 mark, he battled back with a pair of wins in the consolation bracket with his final victory coming via a 4-3 decision over Simon Kenton’s Dakota Brooksbank in the fifth-place match.
“Zane Christian making it to the semis and then making it back to fifth place was a pretty good surprise. He’s come a long way and has really developed," Ashland coach Butch Scarberry said. “In his placement match, he came in with a game plan, executed well and did what was supposed to do.”
Senior Jarett Sanders (132 pounds), junior Kolby Coburn (170 pounds) and senior John Stone (285 pounds) all advanced to Saturday with Sanders and Stone each tying for ninth.
“Overall everybody competed well and did what he was supposed to do. We’ll improve, get better and hopefully do it again next year,” Scarberry said. “Kolby had really tough draw, but made it to the second day where he wrestled the eventual champion in the second round. John unfortunately became ill on Friday night and had to go home and wasn’t able to compete on Saturday. Jarrett gave his all and came up a little short but had a great career wrestling.”
It was the final matches for Sanders and Stone.
“Jarett was a four-time state qualifier, a two-time regional champ and two-time regional runner-up,” Scarberry said. “Both had over 100 career wins, so it’s hard to replace that kind of leadership. John was a state placer last year.”
In its first year of competition, West Carter sent sophomore Sam Rayburn (182 pounds) and senior Dominic Hinton (126 pounds) to the tournament. Hinton posted the team’s first ever state win by defeating St. Xavier’s Leone Couzin in his opening match of the consolation rounds.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my guys and how they competed. A few things go differently and I think they have a real opportunity to place,” said Comets’ head coach Ethan Miller. “As a first-year program, I knew what I was signing up for and I wanted to do great things right out of the gate. Any average coach can step into a good program and find success, I wanted to start something from nothing and do the same. I feel like I reached that goal.”
Eighth-grader John Jackson (120 pounds), sophomore Dean Martin (145 pounds) and sophomore Skyeler Tallent (285 pounds) represented Boyd County. Tallent defeated Iroquois’ Jayden Doak in the consolation bracket to score points for the Lions.
PRE-TOURNAMENT NOTES:
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